Friday, January 07, 2011

Sretan Božić, or Merry Christmas

Today is the Serbian Orthodox Christmas. Our Bosnian tutor told us a little about her family's Serbian Orthodox Christmas traditions. Everyone gathers at her grandmother's house, and they set up a huge buffet on her grandmother's dining room table. Underneath the table, her grandmother spreads a thick layer of hay (a reminder of baby Jesus' manger bed) and hides little treats--candy bars, lollipops--in the hay. When she was little, she and her younger sister would paw through the hay while the grown-ups dished up plates. Now she and her sister are grown up, but she is sure when she gets to her grandmother's house today, she'll still find hay and treats under the dining room table.

Labels

A Brief Explanation

After spending the year in Sarajevo, Bosnia, our family is in the Auvergne region of France for the summer university term. We won't be travelling much but are settling in for life here in the south of France with our five year old, seven year old, and seventeen year old.